Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Maryland's House of Delgates today has seven openly gay members as Del. Peter Murphy comes out to the Washington Blade.

Del. Peter Murphy (D-Charles County), a divorced father of two who also has two grandchildren, said his colleagues and family have known for years that he is gay. “I have never denied [being gay],” Murphy said, “I just presumed people knew.” [snip] Murphy said he’s confident the marriage equality bill will pass later this week, possibly in a final vote on Friday. “As I have said all along, I think it’s a strong civil rights bill,” Murphy said. “I think it’s a fair bill because it also addresses the religious issue and doesn’t require any religious organization to practice something that goes against their teachings.”

Including one state senator, Maryland has more openly gay legislators than any other state.

RELATED: Openly gayMaryland Delegate and JMG reader Luke Clippinger writes us this morning with a recap of what we can expect today.

Here's the big picture - the bill is on second reading today. There will be a number of amendments offered to the bill today and tomorrow - any amendments that pass will require that the bill will need to go back to the Senate, presuming the bill then passes the House. Throughout the day there will also be a number of procedural votes regarding rulings of the chair. There is not normally a vote to "pass" the bill on second reader. After the amendments are offered on second reader, the bill is printed and moves to third reader. Then, further amendments may be offered, followed by the final vote.